Technology being researched by University of Houston professor Lars Grabow has received a $2 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy for further development.
Grabow, who serves as Dan Luss Professor at the University of Houston's Cullen College of Engineering, is developing a technology for the production of acrylonitrile, a feedstock in the production of carbon fiber. A lot of acrylonitrile, or ACN, feedstock production occurs at petrochemical facilities along the Gulf Coast. These facilities can be subject to disruptive weather events, like hurricanes, floods and freezes, disrupting supply chains and causing production headaches for things like automobiles, computer hardware, apparel, medications and more.
The technology Grabow is developing aims to distribute ACN production closer to the geographically distant carbon fiber manufacturing sites. The small, modular reactors could essentially move ACN production on-site for carbon fiber manufacturers.
“Most people are familiar with how the three-way catalytic converter in a car converts carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons into carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water. This inspires the research we are doing,” Grabow said.
The ACN production technology falls into the broader concept of distributed chemical manufacturing, which aims to deploy modular processes to bring feedstocks closer to manufacturing sites, said Triantafillos Mountziaris, the William A. Brookshire department chair and a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UH.
The $2 million award from the Department of Energy will support Grabow's work in tandem with members from Idaho National Laboratory, the University of Virginia, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and KX2 Development.
"Our process involves periodically switching the oxidation and reduction state of the catalyst surface to speed up the overall catalytic cycle," Grabow said. "In the first 18 months of funding, we are aiming to demonstrate a 20°C reduction in reaction temperature while maintaining identical ACN yield, but there will likely be room for more."
The Department of Energy provides financing for state and local governments, as well as funding opportunities for private businesses, developing technologies aimed at energy efficiency, growing renewable energy capacity, improving the security of energy infrastructure and more.
In May, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visited Houston to discuss clean energy jobs and to meet with energy industry stakeholders.
